


down in the forest

by dunnily



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Tylers parents have minor roles, also this is kinda fantasy based so dont think of it as like a modern town, basically the concept is explained in the first chapter you'll understand, don't read certain chapters if you're triggered by animal death, i thought of this while playing skyrim, i'll alert you when they appear, the violence isnt THAT graphic but yknow it's a lil bloody, these chapters might be a bit long sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-01 11:05:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6515938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dunnily/pseuds/dunnily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh runs away into the dangerous area of the woods and Tyler tries to find him. Sorry this summary leaves a lot to the imagination</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> aye so I've been working on this for a while now I hope you like  
> also sorry it sucks

Everyone who moved to Pinesburg, the village surrounded by a dense wood, was told the same thing: not to climb the fence that separated the civil world from no man's land.   
The other side of the fence was occupied by a very large area of dark, gloomy, almost temperate forest that had a sinister ability. Any human who stayed in it over a course of several days would slowly find themselves losing their minds and turning into an animal. It took just under a week for this to take effect, but it only took a day or less for the addiction to set in.  
That's it. The longer you stayed in this zone, the harder it was to leave. It was almost as if some supernatural force was compelling you to keep straying further and further from civilization.   
It was for this reason that Pinesburg was so scarcely populated. Very few people moved there because they were afraid that they of someone they knew would fall into the hands of the manipulative forest. Pinesburg was also difficult to get to. It was a good three hours drive from the nearest settlement, allowing the woods around it to grow vast and dense. Most of the inhabitants were too poor to move elsewhere, and those who weren't enjoyed the village's thickly wooded forest and clear air.  
Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun were two residents of Pinesburg. Tyler was a reserved, sweet, small guy who liked picking flowers and Josh was a funny, kind orphan who loved Tyler so much.   
Tyler and Josh were the gayest boys in town. They had been dating for two years, and even if the village wasn't completely accepting of it, they made no attempt to hide it. Josh, at least, loved displaying public affection. Tyler was more shy, but he loved Josh just as much as Josh loved him.  
It wasn't until late August one morning when Tyler woke up with the absence of Josh beside him.   
''Josh?'' Tyler said groggily, and sat up. He couldn't see him anywhere, and began to panic. ''Josh?''  
He was racing around the village, scanning every face and asking if anyone had seen Josh. Nobody seemed to know where he went. Tyler racket his brain for possible places Josh might have been... the library? The butcher? He checked every shop, and there weren't many shops in Pinesburg. Where could Josh be?  
Suddenly, realisation struck Tyler. Josh wouldn't - no one would - venture into no man's land. Why the hell would he do something like that? Out of curiosity? It seemed to absurd for even someone like Josh to do.   
But Tyler had been everywhere, searched high and low for Josh, and it seemed like he was out of options. Was this some kind of prank? Tyler thought that maybe, just maybe, Josh had crossed a line.   
The fence was about a kilometre from the south of the village, after thick forest. The other side of the fence looked next to no different to the rest, minus the trees being slightly more spaced apart. The fence itself was about two metres tall, wooden and seemed to go on forever in either direction. He was sure he was going to regret it, but Tyler was bout to climb over it.   
Just in case he was to fall under the influence of the woods (which he was sure he wasn't going to), Tyler had brought a backpack with all the essentials in it: A large flask of water, some bread, some stretchy string and a pocket knife. He felt quite accomplished.   
Tyler brought his foot up and hoisted himself up a few steps, before pulling himself over the fence and landing square on the other side, grazing his ankle slightly.   
''Josh?!'' He called out. No reply. He tried again. Nothing! ''God damn you, Josh, where are you?!''  
For about an hour and a half he searched like this, then that changed to two hours, three, four... Tyler just couldn't bring himself to stop looking.   
The longer you stay, the harder it is to leave.  
As the sun dropped behind the treetops, the sky clouded over and the forest grew dark. Tyler continued to search until he couldn't see a foot in font of his feet, and he was close to collapsing from exhaustion. Thoughts of ''where could he be?'' and ''why would he do this?'' lulled Tyler uncomfortably into a deep sleep. He collapsed beside a fallen tree.


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Tyler joseph voice* josh is... fast  
> also how do search parties work? this sucks  
> by the way... when I say bread I mean the old oval shaped loaves you find in skyrim not like the modern ones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *climbs into your window at 3am* follow me on tumblr I'm @dunnily

In his dream, Tyler remembered Josh's dark brown hair and he remembered how Josh would always hug and kiss him whenever Tyler was feeling down. Josh was such a sweet person. Josh was welcoming, kind, fast, and friendly. Tyler felt incomplete without him.   
He woke up on his stomach beside the fallen tree, and he was lucky he hadn't frozen to death while he slept. He lay frigid in the morning dew, and the clouds overhead still threatened to pour.   
Tyler sat up slowly and felt for his backpack. Luckily, it was intact, everything was alright, nothing had been stolen. It seemed absurd, but God knows what could have been hiding in this forest. He couldn't stop now.   
A few moments later, Tyler felt the first drops of rain fall onto his face. ''Damn,'' he said under his breath. Somehow, the further he delved into the forest, the more foreign everything looked: The evergreen trees were taller, the forest floor was riddled with ferns and small, white flowers. Tyler had to admit, he found it quite beautiful.   
As the rain became heavier half an hour later, Tyler went around searching for some sticks that were sturdy and the right size and shape to make arrows. He was no expert at this, but he gathered up as many as he could, then used his knife to sharpen the ends away. He then found a slightly curved stick and tied his handy, stretchy string to the ends. It wasn't much, but it was something. He was probably going to need it.   
Suddenly, a twig snapped to Tyler's left, and he turned, panic-stricken.   
''Hello?'' He called out. Silence. ''Josh?'' Of course it wasn't Josh. The chances of it being Josh were so slim, they were practically non-existent. Tyler mentally slapped himself.  
He caught a glimpse of brown fur scurry across the forest floor to the right. It emerged from the trees - it was a small rabbit.   
Tyler sighed. He was hungry, but trying to chase the rabbit was useless, and it was far too small a target for his rusty aim. He placed an arrow to the bow and drew back on the string, firing the arrow. He missed by a long shot, and the rabbit dashed away into the underbrush.   
''I hate everything and everyone,'' Tyler sighed, collecting the arrow from the ground. Surprisingly, it had wedged itself about three inched into the ground, which was pretty effective considering Tyler hadn't really tried.   
He squinted up at the grey sky. ''Where the hell are you, Josh?''  
Meanwhile, back at Pinesburg, Tyler's parents had grown incredibly worried about him and Josh. Tyler's mother was sobbing, burying her face into her husband's arms, who was reasoning with some town guards in front of the town hall.  
''We need to send out a search party today,'' said Tyler's father to the guard. ''Please, you have to help us find them.''  
''I'll gather as many volunteers as I can, and I'll also take some of the other guards, and we'll head out tomorrow morning,'' said the guard.  
Tyler's mother shook her head, speaking up. ''No, you have to look today or tonight, before they get any further.''  
The guard sighed and said, ''I suppose we could send a search party out for a couple of hours tonight, if we're lucky. If we don't find them, we can always arrange one for another time.''  
Tyler's parents thanked the guard gratefully. All they could do now was hope that Tyler and Josh were alright. ''Our son was such a fool to run away with Josh like this,'' Tyler's mother sniffed, turning away with her husband.   
That night, ten volunteers and seven more guards in the search party were sent out to find Josh and Tyler, or evidence that they had been somewhere. Many refused to cross the fence, so most of them searched around the area and in other parts of the woods.   
Little did they know, Tyler was over a ten miles into the woods by now, and was surrounded by tall, silver firs.   
He slumped against a rotten tree stump and dug out one of the loaves of bread he had packed and began to eat - for the first time today, he realized. The strange thing was that he knew Josh probably wasn't even in these woods at all, but it was almost as if something was compelling him to stay there. Also, it was probably just him going crazy, but he had noticed two small bumps forming on his temples.   
When the forest was almost completely dark and the rain had stopped, Tyler threw his backpack on and (with great difficulty) climbed up the nearest, low-branched tree and tried to find a place where he was safe from falling. There he slowly but surely fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah this sucks i'm sorry


	3. three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **THERES ANIMAL DEATH IN THIS CHAPTER AND IT'S A BIT GRAPHIC**  
> there's not much blood but the animal death is definitely there
> 
> anyway so tyler find a river and kills a deer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm pretty proud of this one

Josh had climbed up a for tree to sleep in that night. He could already feel himself turning: the beginnings of antlers were already sprouting from his temples, his ears were slightly pointier and his face was noticeably frecklier. Not that there was anyone around to notice it.  
Josh was remembering just how gay he and Tyler were for each other. Tyler liked being the little spoon, because he felt safe in Josh's strong arms. Josh liked to be the big spoon because he wanted Tyler to feel safe.   
Now, Josh was in the middle of some twisted forest he had been in already, compelled to stay there forever, unsure of what to do. He wanted to live there, he knew that much. It was probably the forest's magical properties that had drawn him back in.   
Josh reached up to his nub antlers and noticed that they had grown - literally overnight. Oddly enough, he didn't seem to mind. He wasn't out of place, this felt... natural, he was just adapting to his new habitat.  
Josh shook his head. This place was crazy weird.   
Tyler carefully climbed down the silver fir he had climbed up - it was difficult to get up, and even worse to get back down. After a few minutes, he managed to get onto a low enough branch and hop off. Now that he thought about it, he was lucky he hadn't fallen out of the tree in his sleep.  
Tyler wandered around the woods for a while, and eventually came across a small, shallow river. He dumped his backpack onto the mossy ground and began to drink from it. He dunked his entire head in at one point, getting the cool, refreshing water all down his front. He was having a blast, until he saw his reflection in the water.  
''Oh, shit.'' Tyler reached his hands up and felt two firm spikes protruding from both of his temples. They looked like baby antlers. Only one prong was fully formed on each, so they looked a bit like devil horns.   
He backed away, confused as hell, and completely and utterly lost. Tyler was beginning to feel more animal that human, adjusting to his boreal habitat. He backed into a mossy tree trunk, and briefly the wind was knocked out or him.   
He detected the familiar sound of twigs snapping, and it sounded like a much larger animal than a rabbit this time. He stealthily gathered up his bow and arrow, looking around for the target.   
Another snap of twigs, this time to his right. It seemed to be heading towards the stream. Suddenly, a large, spotted deer emerged into a small clearing from behind a tree and drank from the river.   
Tyler took a deep breath, placing an arrow into the correct spot and slowly drawing back the string. He was 99% sure he would miss, he hadn't exactly got much practise in. But he hadn't eaten since the previous day, and that was a small amount of bread. He let go of the string.   
The arrow flew past Tyler, piercing the deer's chest from the side. It toppled over with a loud cry, and Tyler rushed ahead and crouched beside it. He couldn't help but feel sorry.  
Now came the tricky part: the deer was dying slowly, and it was Tyler's job to put it out of its misery. How?  
He pulled the arrow out, eliciting a painful, drawn out wail from the deer. Tyler winced as he looked around frantically for something heavy, and fumbled for a large rock. He lifted it up above his head, closed his eyes, held his breath, and...  
The deer's cried of pain stopped abruptly.  
Tyler tossed the bloodied rock to the side and slumped back, letting out a relieved sigh. He groaned when he remembered the knife he had put in his bag.  
After a few minutes of rest, Tyler began to gather sticks and branches to start a fire, making a pile that resembled a stick pyramid. He had no idea how to start a fire the proper way without matches, outdoor survival wasn't really his forte. Tyler guessed starting a flame using nothing but two rocks was the inefficient way, but he didn't know any better methods. He found two fist-sized stones he had found in the riverbed and dried them thoroughly, then began to hit them together to try to make sparks.   
It took several minutes, but he eventually managed to summon some sort of fire, which soon turned into a reasonable heat source.   
After half an hour of trying to figure out how to butcher a deer, he was roasting venison over a fire in the middle of nowhere. Since he was about one-tenth deer, did that make him one-tenth cannibal? The thought made Tyler feel slightly nauseous.   
When the forest was completely dark and the fire was the only source of light, Tyler splashed water from the river over the flame and slept on the ground, warmed by the glow of the ashes and the down from his coat.


	4. four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tyler finds a nice lake 
> 
> also you know what would be so cute.. if I or someone else drew tyler with his backpack on and everything but with antlers and a rel cute freckly face?? that would be so nice. such a warm boy. my queer deer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's a teeny tiny gore warning in the beginning of this chapter, it's really nothing severe
> 
> just a heads up

The previous day, Tyler's parents had sent out another search party, this time twice as big, to look around an area twice as vast. But still, Tyler was too far into the woods for anyone to enter, without becoming fixated and turning. The search party could only assume that Tyler and Josh were dead, or had run away much further than they could look.  
Tyler's eyes opened drearily, and he took a few seconds to recall where he had left off. Ashes, river, trees, rotting deer carcass. Tyler's antlers now had two prongs fully developed, and the start of a third on each.   
He remembered something he had been taught many years ago, something he never thought he'd put to good use. If you're lost and you find a river, head downstream. His father had told him it would eventually lead to a lake, or the ocean if you're unlucky.   
He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, drinking once more from the river. He then left the carcass with its torso cut open to decay. Some carnivore would find it eventually.   
The followed the river downstream, where it would, at some point, meet up with a lake. Or the ocean, but Tyler was probably to far inland for that to happen without running into some sort of lake along the way.  
Tyler came across a few small ponds now and again, little algae-covered rocks in them. Sometimes a huge fir tree would overhang the pools of water and its heavy branches would dip into the water slightly. Tyler loved the forest. Sometimes, before he got himself into this mess, when he had free time he would go for walks by himself. This felt like one of those walks, only this time he was in far more danger.   
After about an hour, Tyler was beginning to lose hope on this whole lake thing. He crossed the stream using some mossy stones over to the left side, he was getting a bit bored of walking on the right this whole time.   
When he was about to give up hope, he thought he saw what looked like a gradual cliff edge a few metres in front of him, but it was hard to tell from all the trees. He stepped past the trees, and he immediately regretted wanting to turn back.   
The cliff dropped off gradually, and the stream fell away into a beautiful waterfall. The waterfall was narrow like the stream and split away at the ends into two smaller currents, before disappearing into the lake. The cliff face was about a fifteen metre drop from where Tyler was standing, and it was made up of boulders, all different sizes. What Tyler loved most was that there weren't just firs, which was what he was used to. there were all kinds of small, interesting trees growing from the grassy parts of the cliff face. He saw what looked like several baby red maple trees, lots of bushes and bracken, and one large weeping willow with its leaves in the lake.  
The lake itself was enclosed by foresty mountains, and it was a much smaller lake that Tyler had been expecting. He wasn't disappointed by the view, though.   
Tyler carefully began to step onto the boulders near the waterfall, down to the lake. He managed a few steps down, and since it wasn't that big of a cliff, he soon got himself onto the grassy bank beneath the willow. The ground there was littered with ferns and flowers.   
He pulled the other half of the loaf of bread he had started two days prior out of his bag and ate what was left of it. It tasted disgusting from being in his bag for so long, but it was better than nothing.   
Tyler slumped his bag onto the ground - it felt good to relieve his back from the burden - and peered into the water. It was so clear he could see almost to the bottom, and occasionally a small trout would dart across the water.  
His eyes adjusted and focused on his own refection. He was surprised to see that in a couple of hours, his antlers had fully formed. He was now mistakable for a real deer. Or, at least, they looked fully formed, just like the ones his parents had hung up on the living room wall for decoration. Tyler shuddered at the thought.   
When he squinted, he noticed that his face was also extremely freckly, especially his nose. Tyler snorted in confusion. They had just sort of appeared there today. At this rate he would be a full on deer in a matter of days.   
He decided to take today to explore around the lake. It was small enough to walk around in under half an hour, and Tyler found there was a ton of food everywhere. He counted 38 fish in that time alone, and he found numerous blackberry bushes around the banks. There were even a few apple trees here and there. What a perfect place for Josh to have been...  
Tyler sat down on his coat under the willow, near the bank. Of course he had no idea what time it was, he had been judging when to go to sleep by the position of the sun. It wasn't like time was real, anyway.   
He lay his head down on the coat and slowly dozed off, when the last of the sunlight disappeared behind the mountains. He was so tired. And his antlers were agonisingly heavy.


	5. five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *ANIMAL DEATH WARNING*
> 
> a fish dies in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all the nice comments you gon make me cry!!

Tyler lifted his head with great difficulty. Jesus, the antlers were heavy. He picked up his backpack and stood up slowly, trying to regain his balance. He was a bit wobbly from the weight of his antlers, but he was soon able to stand upright.   
His stomach growled from hunger, and it reminded him of how little he had eaten in the past few days. Literally some venison, a small loaf of bread, some berries and a few swigs of water. He had become slightly smaller from malnourishment.  
Tyler remembered the dozens of trout he had seen in the lake the previous day. He gazed at the clear water and pulled the straps of his bag over his shoulders, wobbling slightly from all the unfamiliar weight on his head.   
Tyler walked over to the edge of the river and peered in. It was a fairly shallow area with quite a few reasonably sized fish darting around. He wondered idly if he could just reach into the water and quickly grab one, but he pushed the thought to the back of his head. He broke off a five foot long, thin stick from a small tree and cut off all the excess twigs. He then dug his knife out from the dark recesses of his bag and carefully carved one end away into a sharp point. If he could just get his aim right, maybe he'd be able to snag a fish.   
Tyler wandered around the edge of the lake for a while, trying to find a place with more fish. Eventually he found a shallow-ish, rocky patch with fast moving water that lead to a small creek. The creek disappeared underground shortly after.   
Tyler dropped his bag beside a tree where he would remember it, just in case he fell in. And with his weighty antlers that seemed to still be increasing in size, there was a fairly good chance of that happening.  
He readied the spear and waited for a single fish to stay still long enough for him to react. After about five minutes, a small, slow moving rainbow trout hovered for a few seconds in the water just within Tyler's reach. He slowly brought back the spear and took a deep breath.   
He probably shouldn't have, but he instinctively squeezed his eyes shut the moment the spear made contact with the lake. He had pushed down with too much force, and now his face was covered with water droplets. Tyler missed the fish by a long shot. He tried again with another fish, lighter this time, but the trout swam away before he could even make contact.  
After countless more attempts, he finally gave up and decided in the end to resort to his original idea: just grab the water and wing it.   
Tyler awkwardly removed his shirt, and the hairs on his arms and back rose up from the sudden chill. He briefly glanced around to make sure nobody was watching - you know... predatory animals he didn't want invading his privacy - before taking his pants off. He considered taking his underwear off too, but he decided against it.  
He then sat eagerly waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce. Eventually, he spotted quite a large trout and brought his hands down on it as quickly as he could.   
Tyler was expecting to fall in, but he wasn't expecting the water to be quite as cold as it was. He leaned in and the weight of his pesky antlers pulled him forward into the freezing lake. The cold had taken him by surprise and the fish slipped away.  
Tyler scrambled out of the water, shivering and clutching his shoulders. This method was at least more effective in terms of actually catching a fish: this time he had felt its scales. He had no chance of even touching a fish using the spear. If he got used to the cold, he'd be able to avoid letting another one go.   
He spotted another fish, a rainbow trout by the looks of it, and stealthily grabbed it by its tail, leaning forward slightly.   
Again, his enormous antlers pulled him forward and he lost his balance, belly-flopping into the cold lake. He just managed to keep his grip on that damn fish, and he held it tightly to his chest like his baby.   
Tyler struggled out of the lake, clutching the thrashing fish. It slapped him in the face several times with its tail. With some difficulty, Tyler could pin the fish down on the ground with one hand, and reach for his bag to grab his knife with the other. He really had no idea what he was doing, so he just decided to cut the fish's head off as quickly as possible.   
Tyler rinsed his knife off in the stream and took to making a fire, the same way he had made it with the deer. The skin of the trout was pretty disgusting and slimy, but the rest was surprisingly good once it had been cooked. Plus, Tyler's underwear were drying.  
When he was finished and it was almost dark, he put all his clothes back on and put out the fire out using the lake water. He would have slept with the fire lit, but he was afraid of casing a forest fire. He chugged the rest of the water in his flask and refilled it again, before laying his tired head down on the hood of his coat and falling asleep.


	6. six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so this is the last chapter in ditf.  
> also warning for death, throwing up and violence!! this is a gross chapter

Tyler felt a cold chill when he woke up. Today marked four-and-a-half days he had been trapped here. Trapped? No, that wasn't the right word. Maybe re-homed. He glanced up at the sky, a dull grey sheet of cloud overhead. The kind of clouds right before it rains.  
Tyler snatched up his backpack and brushed the twigs off himself before going around the blackberry and strawberry plants and stuffing his bag with as many as he could fit. Today, he thought, he was leaving the lake to continue looking for Josh. Was he even looking for Josh anymore? He wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for at this point.  
After about ten minutes of traveling through the evergreen forest, the rain began to drizzle. The first raindrops lightly tapped against leaves of trees, ferns and flowers, and Tyler started to regret not taking a thicker coat. The rain gradually became heavier and heavier until the sound of water against the earth was all Tyler could hear, besides the occasional crow.  
Tyler moved to pull his hood up, then remembered his antlers. He'd just have to deal with the rain until it stopped. His arms and legs were a lot hairier, and the tip of his nose and his philtrum were beginning to turn dark brown, like a deer's. How much longer would it be?  
Tyler decided to rest near a low-branched tree, and he tried his best to surround himself with the branches to shield himself from the rain. The antlers were a pain in the ass, and they kept getting stuck in leaves and twigs. He needed to duck his head slightly to fit into the small, protective nest he had made.  
He was beginning to doze off when suddenly he heard something over all the rain. It was the cracking of branches.  
He lifted his head, eyes wide, antlers annoying, and slowly reached for his bow and an arrow. The sound was coming from past the tree he was leaning against, directly behind him. Tyler crept around the tree and glanced behind.  
The view was a rotting, fallen tree with various kinds of poisonous-looking fungi growing from it. There was something else too, Tyler saw - antlers, just like his own. How much of a cannibal was he now?  
The deer's body was mostly covered up by the log, but Tyler could just see a silhouette in the pouring rain. He placed the arrow in the bow and closed one eye while aiming. This damn deer wouldn't stop moving. He eventually mamaged to get a steady aim, and point the arrow at the deer's lower shoulder.  
Tyler drew back on the string as far as he could and waited a few seconds before releasing the string and letting the arrow soar past him, sinking into the deer.  
It let out an agonised cry, and Tyler's face went pale. That cry was far more human than not.  
Tyler rushed to the thing's body, a sick feeling in his stomach. He vaulted over the rotting log and resisted the urge to throw up at what he saw.  
It was Josh. Or, atleast, it was Josh. Tyler wasn't sure what he was by now. His hair was overgrown, and he had the same antlers as Tyler, maybe slightly bigger, with the same nose and the same freckles and the same beginnings of fur. Tyler crouched beside Josh, tears streaming down his cheeks, and shook him slightly.  
''Josh!'' He cried. ''Josh, I'm so stupid!''  
Josh's head turned to face Tyler, and he opened his mouth to speak. His voice was barely a whisper, and Tyler wasn't surprised.  
''Tyler,'' Josh wheezed, and it was a struggle just to say his name. ''You've found me.''  
Tyler placed a hand on Josh's chest and pulled the bloody arrow out of his shoulder, and Josh screamed in pain. Tyler sobbed and doubled over, trying desperately to stop the blood loss by bundling up Josh's shirt and pressing it to the wound.  
''Josh, why did you run away from me!?'' Tyler placed a hand on Josh's cheek. Josh winced and tried to shift, but he coughed up blood.  
Tyler cupped a hand over his mouth and sobbed harder than ever into this hand. ''Tyler, I've been here before...''  
''What do you mean?'' Tyler cried. ''You managed to escape the first time?''  
''But I came back... Tyler, I'm so, so sorry...'' Josh's breaths were becoming choppy and he was struggling to keep his eyes open.  
''No, Josh, I should be sorry! Look what I've done to you!'' Tyler was still trying frantically to stop Josh's bleeding, but the stain was still growing by the second. ''Josh, don't leave me again!''  
Josh touched his hand to Tyler's and stared at him with dilated pupils. ''I'm sorry.'' His eyes glazed over, and his chest stopped rising and falling.  
Tyler was in so much shock he forgot to cry for a few seconds, he just stared at Josh's dead body and his blue lips. Suddenly all the emotion he had been bottling up came rushing out in a series of cries and sobs. He leaned his forehead on Josh's motionless chest and just sat there crying for ages. What else could he have done?  
He felt a pang of pain, not emotional but physical, in his chest, streaming throught his limbs and down his spine. He scrambled away from Josh but faltered just a few metres away. Tyler fell to his hands and knees and threw up on the ground. He was in so much pain, he could feel his body changing, he felt like the ground beneath him was shaking. Tyler's time as a human was over. He blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm super sorry guys I tried to make it the least cheesy as possible
> 
> i'm taking a break from ao3 also. see you soon!!!!!!!!!!


End file.
